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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

TORONTO — The
Government of Canada, VIA Rail Canada and the City of Toronto
has celebrated the completion of VIA Rail’s new Panorama Lounge, a major
project to modernize VIA’s passenger facilities and a significant
milestone in the revitalization of Toronto’s historic Union Station.

“Union Station is an important commercial and
economic hub for business travellers, tourists and daily commuters,”
said the Honourable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Transport).
“VIA’s new Panorama Lounge is a valuable addition to the many projects
our government is supporting to revitalize Union Station, creating jobs
and economic growth.”

“This new Panorama Lounge is another step toward a
renewed and modernized passenger rail service,” said Paul G. Smith,
VIA’s chairman. “Thanks to the support of the Government of Canada, VIA
is bringing important capital projects to completion over the coming
year that will improve passenger rail services in key areas of our
network.” As the first piece of heritage restoration and
improved infrastructure at the station, the 630 square-metre Panorama
Lounge has over twice the capacity of the previous lounge. VIA customers
began using the newly renovated and improved space at the end of
January.

“Trains have played a pivotal role in uniting
Canadians throughout our history, and they continue to keep us
connected,” said VIA’s president and CEO Marc Laliberté. “This new
lounge is a clear signal of VIA’s drive to further strengthen this vital
link. It will allow for a more comfortable travel experience for the
close to 170,000 Business Class and Sleeper Touring Class passengers
that leave Union Station on VIA trains every year.”

The new Panorama Lounge is one of many projects
underway at VIA to increase the safety, efficiency and reliability of
passenger rail service. The Government of Canada has announced
investments totalling 923 million in VIA for capital improvements since
2007, as well as funding of $105 million in Budget 2012 to support VIA
operations and capital investment for 2012. The Government of Canada
and VIA Rail recently announced schedule improvements on the
Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor to meet passenger demand, including new
daily Toronto-Ottawa express trains – one in each direction - and more
frequent service between Ottawa and Montreal.

Located near the Great Hall with views over Front Street, the new
Panorama Lounge provides modern amenities while retaining original
architectural and design elements such as marble-covered walls and
plaster ceilings that tie in with other work to renovate and improve the
station.

"Union Station's revitalization is an important
investment in Toronto's transportation infrastructure and economic
future, and the high calibre of architectural design is a bold statement
about this historic building as a gateway into a vibrant city," said
Toronto City Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East),
and Chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, who
represented Mayor Rob Ford at today's event.

The $4.2 million improvement to the Panorama
Lounge is the first major completed element of the overall work that is
underway to revitalize Union Station, a $640 million project managed by
the City of Toronto. The Government of Canada is contributing a total of
$164 million to this project. The Government of Ontario is contributing
$172 million and the City of Toronto is contributing the remaining $304
million.

– 30 –

BACKGROUNDERS

VIA Panorama Lounge

General features

• Designed for VIA Rail customers, the Panorama Lounge is VIA's
largest and most heritage-significant passenger lounge in Canada.
• Located near the Great Hall on the ground floor in the west wing of
Toronto's Union Station, the new Panorama Lounge has views over Front
Street and offers amenities such as WiFi, a business centre, a beverage
service area and men's and women's washrooms.
• At a spacious 630 sq. metres, the Panorama Lounge can seat over 200
people, more than double the amount of customers accommodated by the
previous passenger lounge in the departures concourse. The increase in
capacity achieves one of the revitalization's goals to improve the
quality of customers’ experience at the station.
• The lounge's construction was funded as part of a $25 million federal
contribution to improve the parts of Union Station used by VIA Rail.Heritage features

• During demolition, construction workers uncovered hidden heritage
materials, such as plaster ceilings, cornice detailing and vast amounts
of marble, underneath layers of paint, wallpaper and other wall and
floor coverings and fixtures.
• Many of the lounge's original architectural and design elements were
kept because of their heritage value. These elements showcase a level of
craftsmanship rarely seen in contemporary work and impart a sense of
old-world charm, grandeur and monumentality to the space.
• One of the lounge's most striking features is its expanse of marble, a
mottled grey Missisquoi stone used throughout the walls and floor. The
marble is the same kind found in the Manitoba Legislature and Canada’s
Parliament Buildings.
• Years of wear and tear necessitated the meticulous cleaning and
restoration of the marble to its original beauty. In some instances
where the original marble could not be restored, it was replaced with
new marble brought from the same quarry that produced the original in
northern Quebec.
• In the era when the station was built marble was considered a generic
finish and was widely used because of its ease of cleaning and low
maintenance.

Energy-saving features

• Designed to replicate the original wood windows, the new wood-frame windows are energy efficient and thermally glazed.
• All mechanical and electrical systems, including heating, ventilation,
air conditioning, sprinklers and plumbing, are being brought up to 21st
century standards.

Lounge's history

• When Union Station opened in 1927, the lounge area was a public
lunchroom, equipped with a long serving counter that was typical of that
period. The room's original shape, marble-covered walls and plaster
ceiling were all kept in the new design.
• After several iterations, the lunchroom was turned into the Front Street Bar ’n Grill, which closed in 2006.

Union Station Revitalization

Union Station is the busiest, most important
multimodal passenger-transportation hub in Canada. As an integral part
of Toronto's history and identity, it is a symbol of civic and national
pride.Construction began in 1913 amidst a materials
shortage during the First World War. The station was officially opened
by the Prince of Wales in 1927 and has since welcomed waves of
immigrants to the city, survived a major fire, and endured more than 80
years of wear and tear.In 1975, Parks Canada designated Union Station a
National Historic Site because it was the country's finest example of
classical beaux-arts architecture and the largest of the great urban
railway stations built in the early 20th century.Since acquiring Union Station in 2000, the City of
Toronto continues to own, maintain and improve the station. Union
Station's revitalization will ensure that this culturally significant
facility lasts another 100 years. Key aspects of the project include:• Restoration of many of the station’s heritage elements, including the Great Hall, west wing, façade and VIA concourse.
• Creation of a new, lower-level, pedestrian retail concourse, which is
expected to generate revenue for the City and contribute towards the
revitalization’s financing.
• Expansion of the GO concourse by threefold to accommodate the expected
doubling of passengers at Union Station by 2030 (GO carries nearly 44
million passengers annually in an extensive network of train and bus
services that spans over 10,000 square kilometres).
• Creation of a new PATH tunnel connecting the northwest corner of
Union Station to Wellington Street. (PATH is Toronto's underground
walkway system)
• Expansion and increase in the number of station entrances, including
the addition of a new PATH connection and tunnel to Union Plaza, Air
Canada Centre and Maple Leaf Square.
• Incorporation of advanced environmental designs, such as deep-lake
water cooling, district heating and energy-efficient technology.The City of Toronto is leading the revitalization
with three objectives: to improve the quality and capacity of pedestrian
movement in and around the station, to restore and preserve its
heritage elements, and to transform the station into a destination for
shopping, dining and visiting. The project is expected to be completed in 2015/2016.

About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada’s national rail passenger service, VIA Rail Canada's (www.viarail.ca)
mandate is to provide efficient and cost-effective passenger
transportation, in the country’s two official languages. Every week, VIA
operates 503 intercity, transcontinental and regional trains linking
450 communities across its 12,500 kilometres route network. Winner of
the 2011 RAC Safety Award, VIA transports over four million passengers
annually. Find out more about the capital investment program at
viarail.ca/transformingvia.

About the City of Toronto
Toronto is Canada's largest city and sixth-largest government, and
home to a diverse population of about 2.7 million people. Toronto's
government is dedicated to delivering customer service excellence,
creating a transparent and accountable government, reducing the size and
cost of government and building a transportation city. For information
on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents,
businesses and visitors can dial 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.